Man feeding goose

just did my latest

Little happier about this drawing then I usually am. it definitely has its warts and blemishes (I don’t think the guys clothes were well rendered)-- but I like the way the interaction between the guy and the goose looks.

and they both are pretty accurate (for me)

5 Likes

I think this is well done.

1 Like

Hi Jason, thank you so much for sharing this artwork.
Your works remind me of a Japanese musician & illustrator named Kazuhiro Nishiwaki. You can see his works here http://www.kazuhironishiwaki.jp/ and you will notice that his portrait-type paintings and his cartoon-style works are very different; so different that you cannot perhaps believe that they are drawn by the same artist. But both of his works are popular and I myself love them both. Your artworks currently seem closer to his cartoon-style works and from here you can go either way, i.e. pursue a realism-oriented path or rather choose to establish your own cartoon style. I have been working on a film-making using my pen-drawings, which, tell you the truth, was planned to complete last year. But it took me so long to decide what kind of pen-drawing style I should apply because I knew I needed to choose between realism-oriented style of more cartoonish style. After drawing some sample works, my current decision is to use the realistic works because establishing a cartoonish style and bringing unity to one animated film with the style seemed “damn too hard”(it is from Colonel Slade in “the scent of woman”). But it looks like you have sort of natural cartoonish style and I believe that it is actually something very hard to acquire and worthy of your efforts for more refinement.

Drawing something realistic is very straightforward in a sense. It takes good observation skills, patience, and maybe some techniques and experiences( or practices). When it comes to drawing something cartoonish, it really takes a high level of creativity and wisdom. Here is one example which literally blew me away drawn by one of my Instagram friends.
She is a very skilled illustrator and you can readily imagine from her other works that she will be able to draw a realistic style of cactus if she prefers to do so. But I personally much prefer this particular approach to cactus drawing because this is full of ingenuity. If I were to try a cactus drawing, I could not possibly even imagine using lines and dots in this way.

People often talk about improvements of their artworks, but I think that thinking about which direction you want to go into should come first before talking about improvements. Taking your artwork for example, if you want to go into a cartoonish style, improvements of this particular work will probably mean more defined lines and more simplified shapes. If you want to go into a realism-oriented style, much more details and a stronger values contrast will be required for improvement.

I was curious to see how this work will look like if framed and I also wanted to see how this piece will change with a bit of values manipulation. Here is the result:

When framing an artwork, a minimum of 3mm of each of the 4 sides is hidden under the mat. So maybe it would have been better to place all the subjects in the scene a bit more closer to the center of the picture plane. I took it that the focal points were the guy and the goose, and the guy stood out enough thanks to the darkest-dark background, but the goose didn’t because the value was quite close to the value of the under-bench area. So I made the part darker. Considering the overall values balance, I thought more darker areas were needed, so I made the guy’s pants, the bird in the front, the shadow of the goose much darker. There are some other small changes and adjustments, but you can perhaps identify them by comparing this modified version to the original. These changes are all done digitally using photoshop. I often do this for my own works too to detect the areas requiring changes.

Hope these comments are of some help for you. Anyways, I love this drawing !
Cheers, :cat:

1 Like

first of all I really Appreciate the write up and the reference to Kazuhiro and your friend is …Fascinating! ty very much for that.

if my drawing seems a bit at a cross-roads; I think its because some of my sketching skills are getting strong enough to illustrate a deep observational challenge for me.

specifically, What makes a scene interesting and engaging? it isn’t always a strict photo-realistic translation of the scene or photograph that I’m working from!

there is alot of Deep philosophical thoughts I Could have about this. but I think its MORE helpful to just head down the path in front of me.

cartoons, Generally, are NOT the direction I want to take my art.

but Realism is also an uncertain destination. photographers spend their lifetimes trying to master the one perfect artful depiction- while at any time at the press of a button; they can have perfect photo-realistic depiction.
so… “Mere” realism is Not the end-goal of my drawing. these would be lovely skills to have: but without the understanding of what I’m trying to express… its not quite enough.

instead I would rather figure out why one photo is so much more interesting then another and then master be able to depict those elements. (even IF that depiction is far from realistic)

PS. virtually framing my drawing was … btw… fascinating! I actually think the frame adds quite a bit to it. but I hope that, in time, I create drawings that better illustrate the ideas I’m searching for.

ofc, I noticed the changes, too! ty. there are values problems scattered about, I think, in part, because I think that the ground; its texture and value is far too light and thin. like you say it undermines the objects in the scene. there’s an abstract texture over nothing; and I’m not very happy with it.

on your changes- the guys pants was brilliant. I can’t remember what the reference image showed (is this Proof of what I mean?- we didn’t get to the fact that pants needed to be darker by looking at the photograph itself) about it but its definitely artistically right to darken it. the goose’s plummage (and another bird nearby)… yes. I’m seeing lots of little tweaks.

very, very helpful thoughts, maki from first to last. ty

1 Like

Very nice work, I like the way you go over the border with the geese, makes it so lively!

1 Like

This is a great composition. Clear sense of foreground with a line leading us to the background.

I agree with Maki’s comments about having a cartoon-ish style (I’m sure there’s a real artistic word for that, I just don’t know it): I think it takes MORE skill to be able to abstract from reality and simplify it. I think in English the connotations of the word “cartoon” can be negative—it suggests childishness. But I think that should be put aside— your drawings are progressing in a clear direction and you have a style that is slightly evocative of cartoon. I like it! It’s distinct.

For this piece in particular I also agree that you need some darker values. I also think that you could work on being a bit more consistent in your strokes when you shade, perhaps using more directional strokes following the cross contours of objects.

This is so well done!

1 Like

I really like this picture! Well thought through and very good composition. Your attention to detail is very good too. I am always impressed by artwork that exemplifies a lot of patience when working on it. This piece does just that. Thanks for posting it. Would like to see more of your work!

1 Like